
Glassi^£l2. 



Book_--iS. 

.8 i^:b=! 



I A SERMON 

GIVING 

A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 

OF 

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, GEORGETOWN, D. C, 

DELIVERED OCTOBER 17, 1843; 



/o 



AND 

AN ADDRESS 

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 

FUNERAL OF ABEL P. UPSHUR & OTHERS, 

WHO LOST THEIR LIVES BY THE CALAMITY ON BOARD THE PRINCETON, FEB. 28, 1844, 

AND ALSO A 

FAREWELL SERMON 

DELIVERED APRIL 7, 1844, 
OS 

HIS RESIGNATION OF THE RECTORSHIP OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. 



BY REV. C. M. BUTLER, 

LATE RECTOR, NOW OP GRACE CHDRCU, BOSTON. 



Proceeds to be appropriated to the support of the Parish Schools connected with the Church. 




t^ WASHINGTON: 

J. AHD G. S. GIDEON, FRlNTEBSi. 

1844. 






1 



HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 



ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, GEORGETOWN, D. C. 



" The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." — Psalm cxxvi, 3. 

This grateful exclamation of the Psahiiist, ray brethren, becomes 
us on this occasion. After more than four months intermission of our 
services, we are permitted, by the good providence of God, to meet 
again as a congregation in our enlarged, improved, and beautified 
edifice. 

Gratitude to God that he has enabled us to bring this good work 
to completion, should fill our hearts. To the zeal of the vestry, 
who, feeling the necessity of larger accommodations for the stability 
and support of the Church and for the spiritual wants of the com- 
munity, suggested the enlargement of the building to the congre- 
gation — to the ready response of the congregation to the appeal of 
the vestry, with a large, Christian, self-denying liberality worthy 
of all commendation, manifested by a subscription for the object 
which, taking into consideration the number and means of the con- 
tributors, is seldom equalled in amount — to the skill of the gentle- 
man* who furnished the plan for the enlargement of the building — 
to the liberality and labor of the ladies of the congregation, who 
procured and prepared the furniture of the pulpit, desk, and chan- 
cel — to the unwearied and faithful diligence of the building com- 
mittee,! and I may add, to the successful efforts of the builderj ta 
render the edifice complete and commodious ; to these, under God, 
do we owe it, that we are permitted to meet this morning, none of 
our number lost by death, in our pleasant and beautified sanctuary ,, 
hallowed by many sacred associations, and to realize "how amiable 
are thy tabernacles, thou Lord of Hosts!" Brethren, if our love 
be as large as our mercies, and our lives express in any good degree' 
the gratitude which we owe, we shall be a devoted people ! 

•Capt. Geo. F. De La Roche, engineer and draughtsman in the Navy Department. 
tMessrs. L. Thomas, A. H. Marbury, and John Waters. 
JMatthias Dufi'ey, contractor. 



A sketch of the history of this Church will show that the Lord 
hath indeed done great things for us, whereof it becomes us to be 
glad! 

The records in possession of the Church of its past history, are 
very few and imperfect. Such as remain have been collected with 
great care, and rewritten with much labor by a member of the 
vestry,* to whose zeal and industry I am indebted for fair copies of 
every remaining paper having reference to the history of the Church, 
which is in its possession. Instead of the connected and minute 
detail which would be interesting if it were in my power to furnish 
it, I can give but scattered and unconnected notices of the past his- 
tory of the Church, gathered from those incomplete records which 
remain, and from conversation with the Reverend Mr. Addison, for 
many years the respected rector of the parish, and with some of the 
older citizens of the place. 

It is a pleasing circumstance with which to commence our remi- 
niscences, that the first movement towards establishing an Episco- 
pal Church in this place, was made by the Reverend Mr. Addison, 
with the concurrence and assistance of the Reverend Dr. Balch, 
a Presbyterian clergyman, whose memory is still warmly cherish- 
ed in this community. The Reverend Mr. Addison was at that 
time settled in the parish of Broad Creek, Prince George^s county, 
opposite Alexandria. Hearing that there were some Episcopal 
families in this place, he paid it a visit — was invited by Dr. 
Balch to hold an Episcopal service in his church, and encouraged 
by him to endeavor to organize an Episcopal congregation. This 
incident is in perfect accordance with the character which this ven- 
erated man left behind him for Christian kindness and liberality. 
Mr. Addison continued to visit the place and to hold services occa- 
sionally during the years 1794 and 1795. In the summer of 1796 
the first effort, of which any record remains, was made to organize 
a congregation and build a church. Whether a board of trustees 
or a vestry was organized or not, does not appear. The only record 
we possess of this effort is a list of subscribers, whose contributions 
were to be applied "to building the walls and covering in a Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church in Georgetown." This paper is dated Au- 

•Mr. Joha H. Offley. Besides the papers here referred to, others, it is believed, are in 
existence ; and it is much to be regretted, that the efiorts made to procure thein have failed, 
as they are supposed to be most interesting. 



gust, 1796, and contains 112 names, whose contributions, varying 
from $1 to $100, amount, collectively, to $1,500. A lot for the 
church, the one now occupied, was given by Col. Wm. Deakins. 
The subscription list is preceded by the promise to pay the amount 
subscribed, " for the purpose of building a Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the lot in Beatty and Hawkins' addition to Georgetown." 
From this expression it appears that this location was at that time 
beyond the limits of the town proper. The memory of one of our 
oldest citizens refers the chief agency in this movement to Mr. 
Wm. Dorsey and Mr. Plater. From causes which do not appear, 
but which may be conjectured to have been the difficulty of raising 
a sufficient amount of money, the building which was commenced 
at that time was carried up only to the first range of windows and 
remained in this situation until the year 1803. During this period 
the Reverend Mr. Addison held occasional services in this place, 
though with little encouragement to his hopes of completing the 
building. 

The next record of which we are in possession is of a meeting 
of the citizens of Georgetown, in January, 1803, to take measures 
for renewing the effi^rt to build an Episcopal Church. The minutes 
of this meeting commence as follows : " At a meeting of a number 
of the inhabitants of Georgetown, at Mr. Semmes' tavern, on Fri- 
day evening, 28th January, pursuant to a notice in the Washington 
Federalist, for the purpose of adopting regulations for building a 
Protestant Episcopal Church, Walter S. Chandler, Charles Wor- 
thington, and Walter Smith, were appointed a committee to inquire 
into the situation of the building commenced for that purpose, and 
to examine into the state of the accounts relative thereto, and to 
judge of the propriety of completing the same, or to purchase 
ground in any other part of the town, in their opinion most appro- 
priate ; to solicit subscriptions therefor, and to make all such con- 
tracts and agreements as may be requisite for earring into effect the 
object proposed." The committee were instructed by resolution to 
appoint a Treasurer, and to proceed to build a church as soon as 
sufficient funds for the object could be obtained. There are recorded 
the names of 154 subscribers, whose subscriptions amount to $2,500. 
Among the subscribers is found the name of Thomas Jefferson. 
The name of the Reverend Dr. Balch also appears as a subscriber. 
Another record states the whole amount of the subscriptions to have 



been $4,245. Consequently aid from other sources and contributors, 
than those wlilch appear on the reinainin;^ list, must have been re- 
ceived. That difficulties occurred in obtaining the amount required 
is manifest from a letter addressed by the Rev. Mr. Rattoone, asso- 
ciate rector of St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, on belialf of the trus- 
tees of this Church, to the vestry of Trinity Church, New York. 
The letter gives us an idea of the difficulties they had to encounter, 
and the importance of the enterprize, not only in reference to the 
spiritual interests of Georgetown, but of Washington also. 

At that period there was no other Church at Washington than 
Christ Church at the Navy Yard. A part of the letter is here given. 

" To THE Rector and Vestry of Trinity Church, N. Y. 

^' Gentlemen : Having perused a memorial from the Trustees of 
the Church at Georgetown, at their request I am induced to certify 
that the statement they have given is perfectly correct. The exer- 
tions they have made, the difficulties they have encountered, and 
the great importance of the Episcopal Church taking a primary and 
superior lead, where at the seat of Government they are so divided, 
are considerations which 1 have no doubt will have their due weight 
when you shall take into view the facts they have stated. I should 
regret that from the very small number of Episcopalians residing in 
this place, and from the great sacrifices they have made to accom- 
modate the poorer classes of the same society, they should not be 
able to complete the Church, and form the most respectable estab- 
lishment. 

'' As Trinity parish gave so liberally to the church established at 
Alban)^, under the idea of that place being made the seat of the 
State Government, I am induced to hope, as no evil can result from 
the precedent, that they will extend their liberality likewise to the 
permanent seat of the General Government. It may tend greatly 
to restore order, to diffuse the principles of equal and just liberty, 
and to establish, with honor and distinction, a house of public wor- 
ship, where the doctrines, discipline, and worship of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church may be taught in purity, and from this centre of 
the Union, be widely diffused throughout the United States." 

Whether this appeal to Trinity Church was successful, docs not 
appear. The building was commenced, covered in, and sufficiently 
linishcd for the celebration of public worship. 



Early in 1804, the Trustees* advertised their want of a rector. 
In March they were visited by the Rev. Mr. Sayrs, of Port Tobacco 
parish. A meeting- of the pewholders was held in April, at which 
he was elected rector, and the trustees directed to inform him of hib 
election. He appears at once to have entered upon his labors. In 
May, 1806, there was a call upon the pewholders for one year's 
rent, or a sum equal thereto, to finish the church. It is this call 
which leads me to infer, that at the first occupancy of the church, 
it was not completed, but only made sufficiently comfortable to be 
occupied in 1804 and 1805. The church appears to have been in 
a prosperous state until the death of the rector in 1809. Few are 
now living here who have distinct recollections of this excellent 
man, but those few unite in paying- a sincere tribute to his memory. 
A scholar, a pleasing speaker, a pious and humble minister, he was 
well qualified for usefulness in the then important position which 
he occupied. The character given of him in conversation by that 
lamented and distinguished man, Francis S. Key, esq., by whom 
Mr. Sayrs' epitaphf was written, impressed my mind with a deep 
respect for his memory. 

*It appears from one of the papers, that the following gentlemen composed a board of 
trustees, viz: Wm. H. Dorsey, Chas. Worthington, Thos. Corcoran, Walter S. Chandler, 
and Walter Smith. Thos. Corcoran and W. Smith acted as treasurers. 

tJOH : J. SAYRS, 

hu : eel : 

Rector primus, 

HIC, 

(quo, Christi Servus Fideliter ministravit;) 

Sep : jac : 

Ob: 6 Jan; A: D: mdcccix. 

.^t XXXV. 

Here once stood forth a Man, who from the world, 
Though bright its aspect to his youthful eye, 
Turned with afTection, ardent to his God, 
And lived and died an humble minister 
Of his benignant purposes to man. 

Here lies he now — yet grieve not thou tor him, 

READER! he trusted in that love where none • 

Have ever vainly liusted — Rather let 

His marble speak to (hee, and shouldst thou feel 

The rising of a new and solemn thought, 

VVak'd by this sacred place and sad memorial, 

listen to its impulse! — 'tis divine — 

And it shall guide thee to a life of joy, 

A death of hope and endless bliss hereafter. 



8 

The marble which commemorates his fidelity, restored by the 
pious care of the vestry of the church, to a position which enables 
him being dead yet to speak, serves to remind us alike of the good 
example of him whose ashes sleep beneath, and of him, his parish- 
ioner and friend, whose afiectionate and devoted spirit yet lives in 
the epitaph, whose words fall on the ear and on the heart with so 
sweet and solemn cadence ! That marble also serves to preach to 
the preacher, as he stands in this place, an earnest exhortation, 
which seems to issue from the tomb, " Whatsoever thy hand findeth 
to do, do it with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor know- 
ledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest!" Oh! may all who 
speak in this place, reminded by that silent monitor, speak as in 
view of the hour of death, and of the day of judgment. " Storied 
urn and animated bust" may bear flattering memorials of the worth, 
and fame, and honor of the children of the world, but when truth 
guides the hand that writes the epitaph, no higher eulogy can be 
traced over the resting place of man, than this, that 

" He lived and died an humble minister 
" Of God's benignant purposes to man." 

*In January, 1809, the Rev. Walter Addison was called to, and 
accepted, the rectorship of this church. At that time the church 
was as largely attended from Washington as from Georgetown, 
there being still no other church at Washington but Christ Church 
at the Navy Yard. 

The memories of some of our older citizens recall the crowded 
attendance upon the services of this church at that period. No 
other records are possessed than those of the names of the vestry, 
and of the ordinary business transactions of that body, until the year 
1811. That the church was in a most prosperous condition at that 
period, at least in reference to its external affairs, appears from a 
resolution of the vestry dated January 11, 181 l.f 

On motion, resolved, " That it is expedient to enlarge the church, 
and that a committee be appointed to solicit subscriptions, and that 
Mr. Gozter be requested to furnish a plan for the said addition to 
be built, together with his estimate of the probable cost thereof." 

•Vestry in 1807— Chs. Worthington, W. Bowie, T. Corcoran, J. Mason, T. Plater, B. 
Mackall, P. B. Key, and Wm. Stewart. 

fVestry alluded to wereT. Corcoran, treasurer; J. Abbot, secretary; T. Peter, J. Gozler, 
L. H. Johns, R. Beverley, T. Hyde, F. S. Key, C. Smith, and J. Kennedy, wardens. 



The plan failed, as we have been informed, from the double diffi- 
culty of raising the means, and of making the pewholders satisfied 
with holding the same pews, relatively more distant from the pulpit 
than before, at the same valuation. The incident shows how, even 
in a Christian congregation, little and selfish considerations some- 
times oppose themselves to, and prevent great and permanent 
measures of improvement. We cannot but contrast that unsuccess- 
ful effort for enlargement, with the one in whose success we rejoice 
to-day, using the language of David, to express our joyful gratitude, 
" The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." 

At that time the church was thronged to an overflow, with all who 
were most elevated in station and in wealth from the Capital ; the 
pews in the gallery were rented at high rates, and to persons of 
great respectability ; the street before the door of the church was 
filled with glittering vehicles, and liveried servants; and yet be- 
cause means could not be raised for the enlargement, and a misera- 
ble selfishness could not be made to relinquish any thing for the 
sake of extending the privileges of God's house, the enterprize was 
abandoned. Now, with a much smaller and humbler congregation, 
on whom heavy burdens have rested ever since the re-opening of 
the church, not largely blessed, or shall we say cursed, with this 
world's wealth, but as their deeds have shown, rich in faith, with 
but little aid from without the congregation, the means for the en- 
largement of the church have been raised, and the work has not 
been prevented by the obtrusion of selfish and secondary consider- 
ations, and to-day we rejoice in its completion. The contrast strik- 
ingly teaches us to whom we are, and are not, to look for the ex- 
tension of Christ's kingdom, and the honor of his name. I should 
do violence to my feelings, if I did not here express my sense of 
the noble and Christian liberality of the little flock among whom 
it is my happiness to minister. Looking above the human instru- 
ments, to Him who put it in their hearts to do honor to his name, 
to Him alone would I give the glory, and say in the grateful lan- 
guage of the Psalmist — 

" The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." 

From this period until the year* 1817, the church continued in 

*Vestry in 1817— F. S. Key, T. Hyde, L. H. Johns, W. Bowie, C. Worthington, C. 
Smith, T. Corcoran, and J. Abbot; and J. Howe and T. G. Waters, wardens. At a meet- 
ing ol the vestry, Messrs. Bowie, Corcoran, and Abbot, were appointed a committee " to 
adopt such measures as they may deem proper to enlarge the church." 
2 



10 

operation with but a moderate measure of temporal or spiiitual pros- 
perity. It appears from a resolution of the vestry, that the Rev'd 
Mr. Addison tendered his resignation of the parish, and that this 
resignation was accepted and acted upon by the vestry. 

The resolution was in these words, "Resolved, that a rector of 
St. John's Church be appointed on Wednesday, 30th April, 1817> 
to supply the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of the Rev'd 
Walter Addison." Mr. Addison's resignation however did not take 
effect, and the vestry furnished him with an assistant. At a meet- 
ing of the vestry. May 13, 1817, we find this resolution, " Resolved, 
that the Rev'd Ruel Keith be appointed the assistant minister of 
this church for one year." On the 26th of April, 1818, there is 
again a record, "that the Rev. Mr. Addison was unanimously ap- 
pointed rector of this church." At this time, the congregation of 
Christ Church was organized, and the Rev. Mr. Keith chosen rector 
of the church. From this period St. John's Church continued in 
a feeble and declining condition. In 1821, the Rev. Mr. Addison 
resigned the rectorship of the church, under the conviction that his 
usefulness had been much diminished, and that the parish might 
prosper better in other hands. He then took charge of Rock Creek 
Church and Addison Chapel, near Bladensburgh, and was succeeded 
in the rectorship of St. John's by the Rev. Stephen S. Tyng. Mr. 
Tyng remained in the parish from April, 1821, to April, 1823. 
There were but 11 families connected with the church when he as- 
sumed the charge of it, and when he left, the number had increased 
to 33. Mr. Tyng resigned the parish in 1823, and removed to 
Queen's parish, Anne Arundel county, Maryland. Mr. Addison was 
recalled in 1823, and continued the settled minister of the parish 
till 1827. During this period he was much afflicted with weakness 
of the eyes, which in the end became perfect blindness. Unable 
under this affliction, to continue his services effectively, he resigned 
the charge again in 1827. He was succeeded by the Reverend Mr. 
James, who had charge of the church, it is believed, between one 
and two years. Mr. James was succeeded by the Rev. Sutherland 
Douglass, who had charge of the parish about the same length of 
time. After the church had ceased to have a settled rector, the 
Rev. Mr. Addison, though perfectly blind, continued to hold an oc- 
casional service in the church till 1831, when it was finally aban- 



11 • 

doned.* Abandoned, did I say 1 If this had been all, it would have 
been comparatively well. Had it remained only open and desertedj 
so as not inappropriately to have borne the title of '' The Swallow 
Barn," by which name I hear it was often called, even in such a 
deserted and neglected state, it would not have been altogether 
divested of sacred associations. As the pious member of the church 
passed by the desolated house of God, where himself or his fathers 
worshipped, he might then have applied to it, with something of 
mournfulness, the plaintive language of the Psalmist, " The sparrow 
hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest, where she may lay 
her young, even thy altars and thy tabernacles, Lord of hosts, 
my King and my God!" But a feeling of holy indignation, or of 
conscious shame, must, I think, have filled his heart, when he saw 
it given up as the workshop of a sculptor! Yes, in this Christian 
community, a Christian temple was allowed to undergo the most 
shameful desecration, and they who had worshipped under its roof, 
and gathered about its sacred board, or in it been dedicated to God 
by baptism, passed it by, and saw the statues of heathen gods and 
goddesses as a sign at its portico, and heard the chisellings of the 
workmen, where the voice of prayer and praise was wont for years 
to rise,t and they suffered it to be so ! I know not on whose heads 
the censure falls, but I should be unfaithful to my duty as an an- 
nalist, and a minister of Christ, if I did not designate such gross 
indifference to God's house as inexcusable and disgraceful. If, 
which God in his mercy avert, these walls should ever again be 
deserted and left without worshippers, may there be at least such a 
degree of godly jealousy for the honor of God's house left among 
you, brethren, who may linger last about its forsaken altar, as will 
lead you to level the edifice to the dust, rather than that it should 
again be subjected to such wanton desecration ! 

In the rapid sketch of the history of this Church, up to the period 
of its abandonment in 1831, names have been mentioned as identified 
with its fortunes which, no doubt, have called up many associations 
in the minds of some of those who hear me. Of the laity who 
were active in its organization, few remain among us. Of the cler- 

•Veatry at this time — Dr. Chs. Worthington, Gen. John Mason, Messrs. G. B. Magruder, 
Thos. Peter, John Gozler, Clem't Cox, Chs. G. Wilcox, Win. Stewart, Wm. Good, and 
Richard Davis, wardens ; and F. Lowndes, register. 

fThe building was at this time occupied as a studio by Mr- Pettrich, the sculptor, 



12 

gyinen who have been connected with this Church, some rem?.^' 
to this present, but others are fallen asleep. We have already 
spoken of him whose ashes sleep beneath this edifice. The name 
of the lamented Dr. Keith will call up fresher recollections. The 
impression stamped by that earnest and gifted man on this com- 
munity will not soon be effaced. Alas! that the light which was 
so bright in its dawning and meridian, should have been so clouded 
at its setting. But let us remember that the sun, whose parting 
rays are so obstructed that they do not meet the eye, is, in itself, 
no less radiant, and departs in darkness from one horizon, to shine 
with more than its morning and meridian brightness in other climes. 
The Rev. Mr. Tyng is occupying a position of great responsibility, 
and exercising a ministry of eminent usefulness, in the city of 
Philadelphia. The Rev. Mr. James was successively an assistant 
of Bishop White, in Christ Church, and his successor in the rector- 
ship. He died soon after Bishop White, deeply regretted, not only 
by his congregation, but by the Church at large. The Rev. Suther- 
land Douglass breathed forth his ardent and zealous spirit in a for- 
eign land, where he had gone with the hope of restoration to health, 
*' by strangers honored, and by strangers mourned." The vener- 
able Mr. Addison is still living. Afflicted for many years with 
blindness, this truly humble and pious man has exhibited a meek 
and patient spirit, which gives evidence that the eye of his soul is 
open, and is fixed on Christ. " Patient waiting for Christ," are 
words which well describe his condition. Looking upon the ve- 
nerable man, with his hoary head and placid countenance, which 
bears the marks of chastening, but not of tumult or discontent, his 
presence seemed to breathe forth the eloquent but unrepining com- 
plaint of the blind bard of Paradise : 
" Not to me returns 

Day, nor the sweet approach of even or mom, 

Or sight of vernal bloom or summer rose, 

Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine ; — 

But clouds instead, and ever during dark 

Surround me, from the cheerful rays of men 

Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair, 

Presented with an universal blank 

Of nature's works, to me expunged and razed, 

And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out." 

Ah ! brethren, these Churches, thus bearing on their silent walls 
the associations of the past, preaching to us the changes and 



13 

chances vi this mortal life, admonish us, with an eloquence more 
than human, to prepare for that eternal world towards which 
change and chance inevitably impel us all! 

Time allows me to give but a rapid sketch of the restoration of 
the Church to the holy purposes for which it was established. It 
is less needful to be done, because having been of recent occur- 
rence, the circumstances of that history are familiar to those who 
hear me. With whatever indifference the desecration of the 
Church may have been generally regarded, there was one to whom, 
as he passed it in his daily walk, it was a pain and grief.* It be- 
came a subject of conversation among his family and friends. The 
idea of restoring it was suggested. The Rev. Mr. Peterkin, to 
whose early zeal and activity in its behalf this Church is much in- 
debted, gave of his means, as well as his services, to the object. 
A zealous lady, to whose activity and zeal the Church is also under 
deep obligations, established a sewing circle of young misses, by 
whose industry $50t — the sum which had been paid for the Church 
by the gentleman who had bid in the building when it was sold for 
taxes — was raised for the purpose of repurchasing the dilapidated 
edifice. The gentlemant who had bidden in the building gene- 
rously returned the money, and with it a title deed to the property. 
A fair was held in the latter part of 1838, the vestry re-organized, 
the Church rendered fit for public worship, and the Rev. Dr. Mar- 
bury's services obtained as Rector of the Church. § Gradually — by 

•Allusion is here made to Mr. Wm. G. Ridgely, the present register. The first action 
by the vestry towards reopening the church for regular services, was had on the 31st Octo- 
ber, 1837, which resulted in the appointment of Messrs C. G. Wilcox, Wm. Steuart, and 
W. G. Ridgely, [the last not then a member of the vestry,] to investigate the fiscal and all 
other aflSdrs of the church, and to solicit donations to repair and refit it for public wor- 
ship, Sec. &.C. 

tMiss H. L. Steuart, directress; and Misses Harriet B. Williams, Eliza Williams, Cath- 
arine Davidson, Eliza Davidson, Louisa J. Ridgely, Emily Ridgely, Anna Key Ridgely, 
Sophia M. Ridgely, Virginia Williams, Mary A. Harry, Harriet B. Harry, Elizabeth 
Harry, Mary E. Berry, Soloma Pickrell, Lavinia Lyne, Arianna French, Anna Morton^ 
Mary Magruder, Nancy Beard, Ellen Pearson, Josephine Pearson, Sally Hanson, mem- 
bers; This association, the number of members being increased, subsequently paid over 
to the vestry of the church, a further sum of ^75, to be applied towards it» repairs, and 
for the procurement of a bell. 

JW. W. Corcoran, esq. 

§Ve3try— Messrs. J. Gozler, Dr. N. W. Worthington, R. H. Villard, F. Lowndes, W. 
G. Ridgely, Wm. Steuart, C. G, Wilcox, G. B. Magruder.— F. Lowndes, register. In order 



untiling' devotedness of the little flock, and by the christian aid and 
sympathy of the members of Christ Church, several of whom took 
pews in the Church to assist in its support — the building was fur- 
nished with all the conveniences which it possessed before its en- 
largement, and an income obtained for the support of its pastor. 
Since then you know its history. Dr. Marbury resigned the charge 
of the Church in September of '41, and its present pastor immedi- 
ately succeeded him. It then numbered about 30 families and 35 
communicants; at this time, it has about 60 families and 110 com- 
municants. Since that period, as well as before, the Church has 
had reason to use the language of the Psalmist, " The Lord has 
done great things for us, whereof we are glad." 

The brief history which I have given, and the circumstances 
under which we meet to-day, afford important lessons, which we 
can but suggest to your consideration : 

1st. The ruin of the Church, in time past, speaks to us as a con- 
gregation, "Be not high minded, but fear." It is not for man to 
say, without divine warrant, of such an event, that it was God'a 
judgment on the Church for its worldliness, lukewarmness, and 
faithlessness to the cause of Christ. This, however, we may say, 
that God's judgments are denounced against the lukewarm and 
worldly Churches. He who walketh in the midst of the Churches, 
and holdeth the stars in his right band, declares of those who have 
become lukewarm, who have lost their first love, who have fallen 
into the impurities of licentious practice, or the delusions of licen- 
tious doctrine, that their candlestick shall be removed, and their 
star extinguished. " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
spirit saith unto the Churches." 

2. The success which has attended this entcrprize, teaches us 
another lesson. We are not to take the world's opinion as to what 
is practicable when we would do something for the cause of Christ. 
"When the effort was made to restore this Church, and when the 
plan for enlarging it was suggested, in both cases the enterprize 
was judged visionary ^by men of the world. The Church is often 
made faint-hearted, and frightened out of her duty, by the ridicule 
of such men, and their oracular decision that her plans are vision- 

to secure the services of a rector of the church, and provide $600 for his salary for the first 
year,/owr members of the vestry entered into a written obligation, binding tliemselve* for 
fifty dollars each, one of the four agreeing to make good all tlie deficiency 



15 

ary, fanatical, and unnecessary. Now, my christian brethren, I 
hope that you have learned to take counsel elsewhere than from 
them, as to what can be done, when you would extend the privi- 
leges of the Gospel. If we had listened to such wisdom, we should 
not this day have worshipped with grateful hearts in this our en- 
larged and beautified sanctuary. Let worldly wisdom busy herself 
about worldly things, and let us take counsel of heavenly wisdom 
when we are engaged in the work of Heaven. Henceforth, when 
we find anything needful to be done for the honor of God, the 
good of his Church, and the conversion of men, believe that it can 
be done, and resolve that it shall be done. You have every reason 
so to believe and so to do. 

3. The success of this effort teaches us another lesson. It ia 
this : we should show forth our gratitude to God, for such a blessing, 
by doing and giving more than ever for his service and honor. Are 
any disposed to say, " Now we have done so much, let us have a 
pause, let us have no more calls on us for subscriptions and contri- 
butions, let us resti" To such, I answer "nay." On the other 
hand, as God has done so much for us, let us do what we can for 
those who have not the same heavenly^ blessings; let us give more 
largely than before to missions, schools, and to every object of 
christian benevolence. You have given this year much more 
largely than usual, (as I am happy and proud to say for you as 
your pastor,) and with great liberality. And now do you wish to 
be released from it? Why, brethren, I had hoped that the luxury 
of giving largely had just begun to be realized by you, and that 
you would not forego it. Let me ask you a few plain questions. 
Have you been, or do you expect to be, any less comfortable this 
year than usual ? Have you been in want this yearl Have you 
been less happy this year than usual because of giving more largely 
to the cause of Christ and of his Church 1 Nay, have you been 
any poorer 1 I do not believe that one of you can say you have. 
Then I will believe that one of the greatest blessings connected 
with the enlargement of the Church is, that it has shown you the 
luxury of saving and giving to a holy cause, and that it has taught 
you that you can give much, and be neither the poorer nor the less 
happy. My duty, then, is plainly to call upon you to continue to 
save and give, and, so long as I shall be with you, I shall not cease 
to do so. You are but stewards of God's bounty, and never are 



16 

you so happily occupied as when dispensing it in his service. Let, 
then, your mite go on its way to the destitute of this and other 
lands, bearing with it the message of salvation; let the poor about 
you rise up and call you blessed ; let the Church of your love con- 
tinue to receive your liberal contributions for all she needs ; let not 
your dying hour be darkened by the consideration that you have 
withheld, from selfishness, or expended upon self, that which 
Christ claimed, and his spouse, the Church, needed for her welfare. 
And let not this duty be regarded by any one as, because a more 
external duty, little connected with our spiritual interests as indi- 
viduals or as a Church. It is, on the contrary, one of the highest 
importance ; it is a test of our profession ; it shows whether or not 
we have given up all for Christ ; it brings down God's blessing. 
To what was it that the great promise was made — prove me now 
herewith, saith the Lord, if I will not open the windows of heaven 
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room to receive 
it 1 It was in reference to this duty, too often regarded by chris- 
tians who profess to be eminently spiritual, as Pharisaical and legal, 
and therefore held almost in contempt, that the direction was 
given: ''Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there 
may be meat, and prove me herewith, saith the Lord." Brethren, 
by prayer, and by the conseciation of yourselves and substances, 
another blessing like that which came down upon this place once 
before, shall visit us again. This house of prayer shall become the 
gate of Heaven to many immortal souls. May He to whose ser- 
vice it is dedicated ever be present here with his people ! Thus, 
and thus only, will it be verified, " That the glory of this latter 
house shall be greater than that of the former."* 

•Vestry at this time — Messrs. John Waters, J. H. Offley, John Hopkins, P. G.Wash- 
ington, C. E. Rittenhouse, A. H. Marbury, L. Thomas, (treasurer,) W. G. Ridgely, (re- 
gister.) — Messrs. Waters and Hopkins, wardens. 



Washington, March 4, 1844. 
Revkkend and Dear Sir : In commnnicating to you the sincere thanks of the 
Committee of Arrangements, for the truly eloquent and appropriate discourse delivered 
by you at the President's Mansion on Saturday, I am further instructed to convey the 
earnest wish of the Committee, that, with a view to diffuse more extensively, and to fix 
more permanently, the salutary impressions produced by this address, and by the awful 
dispensation of Providence which furnished the occasion for it, you will confer upon them, 
and upon the community, the further favor of furnishing a copy of your discourse for 
publication. 

With great respect, very sincerely, yours, &c. 

RICH'D S. COXE, 
On behalf of the Committee. 
Rev. C. M. Butler, 

Georgetown, D. C 



Georgetown, D. C, March 5, 1844. 

Dear Sir : It is a source of great gratification to me to learn that the address delivered 
by me on Saturday, at the President's Mansion, was, in the opinion of the Committee of 
Arrangements, calculated to produce a salutary impression on the public mind. As it was 
not written, I am not able at once to furnish a copy for publication, but will be able, I 
trust, by this evening or to-morrow morning. 

With my acknowledgments to the Committee of Arrangements for their indulgent esti- 
mate of my effort to improve this dispensation, and with thanks to yourself for the kind 
terms in which it is conveyed, 

I remain, with great respect, sincerely yours, 

C M. BUTLER. 

Rijch'd S. Coxe, Esq. 



ADDRESS 

DELIVERED 

AT THE PRESIDENT'S MANSION, 

O.N THE OCCASION OP 

THE FUNERAL OF ABEL P. UPSHUR, T. W. GILMER, AND OTHERS. 



Never has it been my lot to rise ia a place of mourning under so 
intense and profound a conviction of the inefiicacy of words to add 
any thing of impressiveness to that which the scene itself presents, 
as upon this occasion. Upon ordinary occasions of mortality, it not 
unfrequently happens, that the words of the speaker appear to be 
needed to convince us, even in the presence of the dead, that we 
must die ; to make us realize the uncertainty of life, even when 
we stand before the most convincing evidence of the truth. But I 
do not feel that it is so here and now. In this instance, the fact of 
death, as known to all, itself speaks with awful and appalling elo- 
quence. The dreadful catastrophe which produced the death of 
the distinguished individuals wliose obsccjuies we celebrate, lives in 
the inefiaceable colors of horror, in the hearts of its paralyzed spec- 
tators, and of those who have listened to their recital. So sudden, 
so terrific, so like the lightning execution of a word spoken by the 
Almighty, was the dread catastrophe, that we stand before it, pale 
and quivering, and confess tiiat " the Lord — the Lord, he is God!" 
The speaker's task is already done for him. TJicre is the solemn 
argument and the touching appeal — there is tlie awful fact and its 
impressive lesson. It is briefly and simply this : " We must die, 
let us prepare for it." I know my friends, that in this presence of 
the honored dead, you confess the cogenc}' of the argument, and 
feel the subduing pathos of the appeal. There is not one of us, 
who is not, for the time at least, made wise and thoughtful by this 
awful dispensation. By it, youth has been forced into the wisdom 
©f experienced age. By it, a strong arresting hand has been laid 
upon the thoughtless, compelling them to think. By it, the gay 
have been made grave. The statesman, arrested amid his high 



19. 

cares, has bent, over the lifeless forms of those who were his asso 
ciates but as yesterday, and as he dropped over them the tear of 
friendship, has felt and confessed the nothingness of renown. The 
Senator has paused in the responsible duties of his country's legis- 
lation, awed and solemnized by this sudden stroke of death. Giv- 
ing to patriotism the hallowed spirit and accents of religion, he has 
uttered, in words of persuasive and lofty eloquence, lessons of the 
truest and purest — -because of Heavenly — wisdom.* For the time 
at least, we all are wise, we all are thoughtful. God grant that we 
may be wise unto salvation ! 

The first circumstance in this fearful catastrophe which arrests 
our attention, is the elevated station of all its victims. I know that 
the true worth of a soul, in the eye of reason and of God, depends 
not at all upon its outward environment, but upon its moral char- 
acteristics. Nevertheless, constituted as we are, it does more power- 
fully impress us to see daring death climb to the summit of life, and 
at one fell stroke, bring down the loftiest cedars of Lebanon, than 
it does to see him pass his inexorable scythe under the lilies of the 
valley. As they are precipitated from their high elevation, the 
noise of their fall wakes a startling* echo in the heart, and scatters 
around wide spread ruin. In our human weakness, we are apt to 
say, "if the lofty must thus fall, then how surely must the hum- 
ble." Though there be no force of logic in the deduction, because 
all alike are mortal, there is yet a salutary impression for the heart 
in such natural reflection. But though such an event may add 
nothing to the proof that we must die, which does not exist in the 
case of the humblest child of mortality, it docs most strikingly en- 
force this lesson, that " the glory of man is as the flower of grass, 
and that the fashion of this world passeth away." There are be- 
fore us the lifeless remains of those of whom affection docs not speak 
more fondly here at home, than fame speaks loudly and proudly of 
them abroad. One, who has held two elevated offices under the 
present administration with honor, and discharged their duties with 
high reputation and success, was crowned with every civic and so- 
cial virtue.! ^Another, citizen of the same State, called but re- 
cently to the high office which he occupied at the period of his 

*See the speech of the Hon. Mr. Rives, in the Senate of the United States, on the day 
succeeding the catastrophe upon the Princeton. 
fHon. Mr. Upshur. JMon. Mr. Gilmer. 



20 

sudden death, has been distinguished in the general council of the 
nation, and the political history of his native State. *0f him who 
sleeps by his side, we may say, that none knew him but to love 
iiim — 80 pleasingly were blended in him, the characteristic excel- 
lencies of his profession, with those which were peculiarly and 
strikingly his own. fAnother victim of this awful calamity, a guest 
here, is well known in the councils of his native State, J And yet 
another, not forgotten because his remains, in obedience to the 
wishes of widowed love, are not here, has not only distinguished 
himself by his able services for his country at a foreign court, but 
has made for himself, by his singularly amiable and attractive char- 
acter, a large and warm place in the hearts of his fellow-citizens at 
home. And now, of all this station, talent, and renown, this is the 
end — this the all ! Oh, may I not say, must I not say, to the illus- 
trious assemblage here gathered about the dead, with the respect 
which is due to their exalted station, yet with the fidelity which 
becomes the humblest minister of God, that if, forgetful of their 
responsibilities to Almighty God, forgetful of the necessity of pre- 
paration for existence beyond the tomb, they are in pursuit of fame 
or honor, as an end, as a substantial good, as a satisfying enjoyment, 
as the enough of their existence ; must I not say to them, as the 
impressive lesson of this dark day, that they are in pursuit of a 
shining, illusive shadow, which lures them on to disappointment 
and to ruin ! It is the child's chase after the rainbow — and when 
you shall fall panting and exhausted on the hill-top, where its base 
seemed to rest, the glory, to your eye, will have receded as far from 
you as ever, though you may seem to those below you in the dis- 
tance, to be wrapped in its glittering radiance, as in a robe of glory. 
From yonder palls there comes to the men of station and renown 
this impressive lesson, " 'J'his world's glory is, at the best, but a 
poor distorted shadow of that wiiich is real and substantial ; and he 
whose heart is siipremel)'^ and exclusively fixed upon the shadow, 
loses the reality. Seek ye the glory aiul the bliss of heaven." 

Another circumstance of this calamity, which has not failed to 
arrest the attention of us all, is the awful suddenness of the stroke, 
and the appalling contrast exhibited between the mirth and happi- 
ness of one moment, and the terror and agony of the next. A few 
evenings since, this hall was lighted up and adorned with the flower 

*Captnin Konnon. fColoiU'l Gardiner. tHon. Mr. Maxcy. 



21 

of the capital ami country — its rank, its talent, its renown, its youth, 
g^race, and beauty. The illustrious deceased were all here, with 
hearts beating- with the pulses of health and of enjoyment, and 
with their well won honors clustering upon them. Now, they are 
here, and so! The next day saw them embarked with a large and 
gay assemblage in that wondrous ship, wliich seems to possess a 
conscious vitality, and to move over the waters at the pleasure of 
its own wizard will. In that vessel, freighted with rank, fashion^, 
and beauty, consecrated for the time to purposes of festivity, as it 
glides over the sunny waters, with Death crouching in its awful 
den, ready to spring on those who dreamed not of his presence, I 
seem to see an affecting emblem of the life of pleasure, on which 
80 many thoughtless ones embark, unconscious, as they glide over 
life's glancing waters, of approaching doom. And nowy "all is 
merry as a marriage bell," as the festive bark speeds on — " youth 
at the prow, and pleasure at the helm." While some linger at the 
banquet, and some ate listening to the song, these fated ones walk, 
smiling and unconscious, into the jaws of death. In the twinkling 
of an eye, on wings of flame, their souls rush into the presence of 
the thrice-holy, heart-searching God ! My friends, I desire not to 
harrow up your minds by an attempt to recall the horrors that suc- 
ceeded that dreadful and fatal explosion. I wish but to urge the 
the lesson taught by that fearful transition from merriment to wo — 
from the light laugh of hilarity to the wail of agonized and bereaved 
love. Is it wise, is it right, in a world where such things can be and 
are, to live as if they could not be and are noti Had you — I speak 
to those, especially, who were present, and to all who hear me — 
had you been thus suddenly summoned into the presence of a holy 
God, do you suppose you would have been ready to meet him 1 
The question is not, as the heart's sophistry will endeavor to per- 
suade some it is, — " was it, abstractly considered, right or wrong to 
be there"?" It is a question far higher and more momentous. The 
question is this — Is the temper of your soul such, is its condition in 
the sight of God such, is the tenor of your life such, is your mani- 
fested regard to God's law such, as' fits you to stand up without 
warning and without preparation before Him, who is of purer eyes 
than to behold iniquity 1 It is a fearful question. I know not what 
you are in the sight of God, but I know what awful sayings the word 
of my God contains. I remember that it asks this question, and 



22 

gives this answer: "Those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam 
fell and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men 
that dwelt in Jerusalem, because they suirered such things'? I tell 
you, nay ; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." I 
remember the question: "How shall ye escape, if ye neglect so 
great salvation ?" I hear coming from this dispensation, for many 
a careless one, this fearful declaration: "She thatliveth in pleasure 
is dead while she liveth." Will any satisfy their minds by the re- 
solution not again to place themselves in a scene of danger ! Alas, 
ray friends, we know not when we are in danger. We walk over 
slumbering mines. We dance on the brow of the precipice. There 
is never but a step between us and death. It is only because a for- 
gotten God upholds us, that we draw our present breath. It is alto- 
gether of his mercies that we are not consumed. 

' An earthquake may be bid to spare 

The man that's strangled by a hair ! 

A wiser and more solemn determination than to avoid supposed 
danger, is demanded of us all by this dispensation. Oh! may all 
here present, for whom the world has an absorbing charm, which 
makes them forget their God, listen to the awful lesson, delivered 
in thunder and flame, and blood and death, and wo and wailing, 
which God has addressed to this, alas ! too gay, too giddy Capital ! 

Another circumstance in this catastrophe, which arrests all minds 
and moves all hearts, is the sorrow of the stricken and bereaved 
relatives and friends. It is, indeed, such a wo as a stranger inter- 
raeddleth not with. We would not rudely penetrate into the sacred 
sanctuaria of their sorrowing hearts. But we would — and find it 
the dictate of our hearts to do it — obey the scripture injunction 
which directs us to weep with those that weep. But that we know 
"Earth hath no sorrow which Heaven cannot cure," it would seem 
that their aflliction is more than they can bear. If, at this dark 
hour, sympathy is soothing to their hearts, we can -assure them that 
it is poured forth in full and flowing tides from the heart of this com- 
munity — nay, from the national heart. If, at such a moment, earthly 
honors had any balm for wounded hearts, that balm would not be 
wanting. If — and here we speak without peradventure — if the 
prayer of pious hearts prevail with God — if the blessed influences 
of that spirit whose dear name is Comforter — have a soothing min- 



23 

isUy for the stricken soul, they shall not be left uncomforlctl — they 
shall see "the bright light in the cloud." And as we think of the 
suflferers by this calamity, let us not forget the commander of the 
fated ship. It is a prayer in which I am sure every heart here 
unites, that that gallant and accomplished officer may soon again 
be restored to his country's service, and that he may be spared the 
unavailing bitterness of a too long, too deeply cherished, sorrow 
and regret. 

And now, in conclusion, let us bear with us to the tomb another 
solemn lesson which this dispensation teaches us. It is a truth 
broadly and brightly written in God's word, that, for national trans- 
gressions, God visits, as a nation, their offences with a rod, and their 
sins with scourges. Sometimes he sends disaster and gloom over 
the people, and sometimes he strikes down their ciioicest rulers. 
In either case, it becomes a people, and a people's legislators and 
rulers, to humble themselves before God, that his wrath may be 
turned away from them, and that iiis hand be not stretched out still. 
Now, by this dispensation, from tlie highest officer of the Govern- 
ment, from the bereaved ruler of the nation, who, at one stroke, 
has lost his trustiest counsellors and his choicest friends, through 
many intervening circles, to the hallowed one of home, there is 
weeping, Itimentation, and wo. I altogether read amiss the design 
of this dispensation if it be not to bring the people to a humble con- 
fession and abandonment of their sins; to teach our judges counsel, 
and our senators wisdom. Salutary, indeed, would be the effect of 
this dispensation, if here and now — and what place so fit, what 
scene so appropriate, what " hour" so " accepted" as this place, 
and scene and hour? — salutary, indeed, would this dispensation 
prove, if here and now, in the hearts of this embodied representa- 
tion of the people of this country, there were breathed by all the 
silent vow to Heaven that they would exert their personal and offi- 
cial influence to.secure honor to God's supreme authority, obedience 
to God's paramount law. If the resolution here be taken to pro- 
mote, by infiuencc and example, the observance of God's holy day, 
to check licentiousness and dissipation, and all the national crimes 
which cry out to Heaven against us, then would we see light spring- 
ing out of the darkness of this dispensation. Then it would be 
seen how righteousness exalteth a nation. Then would God be the 
shield of this people's help, and its cxcellcnc} . Then would it 



24 

ride upon the high places of the world's renown. Then we would 
have no need to fear, for the Lord of Hosts would be with us — the 
God of Jacob would be our refuge. 

I will delay the last melancholy duties to the dead no longer. 
My prayer is, that we may pluck the plants of heavenly wisdom 
which will spiing out of the graves of these illustrious men, and 
apply them to our health and healing, as individuals and as a peo- 
ple ! And may God grant that this awful dispensation may accom- 
plish that whereunto he sent it. 



FAREWELL SERMON 



RESIGNATION OF THE RECTORSHIP OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. 



Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us als« by Jesus, and 
shall present us with you. — II. CoRiif. iv, 14. 

There are many future events which we anticipate with a confi- 
dence so unshaken as that they habitually interest our feelings and 
influence our conduct. There are many facts, yet future, which 
furnish as effectual grounds for action or emotion as facts past or 
present. The confidence with which we rely upon those events 
arises either from our own experience of their past uniform occur- 
rence, or from the experience of others transmitted to us by au- 
thentic testimony. We believe that the sun will rise and the night 
darken over us, from our own past observation and experience. We 
believe that the night of a Lapland winter will be long and dreary, 
from the observation of others, confirmed to us by authentic testimoy. 
I know not that we believe the latter fact with a less hesitating 
confidence than the former. We would surely make it the ground 
of action on our part with as firm a reliance in its certainty as 
we would the expected fact that this evening's sun will set. 

But my brethren, there is a great event yet to take place with 
inevitable certainty, which neveitheless, does not move the heart 
and influence the conduct of the great majority of mankind. That 
event is the resurrection of the dead. That it will take place, is a 
truth confirmed by testimony the most unexceptionable and con- 
clusive. We have what can be proved to be the declaration of 
God, that "all who are in their graves shall come forth." Then 
we have testimony, impregnable, that it has been the uniform ex- 
perience of the world that all God's declarations are fulfilled. 
Not more invariably has the sun risen and set, the moon waxed 
and waned, and the stars mustered in the evening sk}', than all 
God's words have been accomplished. God declared that all llesh 

but Noah and his family should be dealroycd ; and the flood came 
4 



26 

obedient to his word, and Noah and his family alone of all man- 
kind were left. God announced that Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre 
and Babylon, should be destroyed; and the fire and the sea, and 
war and time, have executed the words. Such is the case with 
regard to all his declarations. The world's experience is that, 
with as invariable certainty as the rising agd setting- of the sun, 
God's declarations are ever verified. He announces the resurrec- 
tion of the dead ; and the experience of all ages, that the Lord's 
word is steadfast, makes that coming fact inevitably sure. Now 
my brethren, upon a principle recognized and acted upon by all 
men, that the past uniform experience of others — an experience, the 
knowledge of which is conveyed to us by authentic testimony — is 
a sure ground on which to rest the belief of a coming event, the 
Apostle was authorized to use the confident language of the text. 
On mere human principles of belief, then, we are warranted to 
number the resurrection of the dead as among those future certain- 
ties which should influence our feelings, our expectations, and our 
conduct. We may mention together, as coming facts — some of 
which we anticipate from our own past observation and experience, 
others of which we look for from the well testified observation and 
experience of others, but all of which we expect with a certainty 
equally well assured — the setting of yonder sun, the shining of the 
now unseen stars, the mouldering of these now living bodies in the 
tomb, and their resurrection to eternal life or eternal death. Nay, 
it will be seen that, if there be any greater certainty of one of these 
facts than another, it is of tlic latter, which is of all most certain. 
Having, therefore, the same ground of confident belief in the resur- 
rection of the dead on which men unhesitatingly rely in regard to 
other facts yet future, we can speak with great assurance, and be- 
lieve with cordial confidence, and anticipate with profound emotion, 
that wonderful event. " Knowing that He which raised up the 
Lord Jesus shall raise up us by Jesus." 

On this ground, therefore, we take our stand by the side of all 
mankind; and, as they believe that in the future the processes of 
nature will be as they have been — as they believe that heavy 
bodies will fall to the ground, and bodies lighter than the air will 
rise, because this has been in accordance witli the uniform expe- 
rience and observation of all lime — so we call upon them to believe 
in ihe resiurection of the dead with a confidence as unshaken, be- 



27 

cause it has been the no less uniform experience of the world that 
God's promises and declarations have been verified. Nay, it ac- 
cords with our own experience that his promises, with regard to 
the future, are fulfilled. He told us when we were in our sins, that 
if we would repent and believe, he would give us his holy spirit, 
and that our hearts should be changed from darkness imto light. 
We have, in our own experience, proved this promise to have been 
sure ; and, having had evidence and experience of the greater 
promised miracle, the spiritual resurrection, we rest with perfect 
assurance in the expectation of the lesser miracle of the bodily re- 
surrection. But why should we be so careful to prove that our 
knowledge of the coming resurrection is based on grounds as sure 
as those which men build belief upon with perfect confidence 1 It 
is enough that we have the word of our God, which stands forever. 
Having this, we have a ground of b:.lief surer than the world's 
uniform experience from the day of ciaation until now. We fear- 
lessly assert, and subject the assertion to the severest scrutiny of 
reason, that we have surer grounds on which to rest our confidence 
of the resurrection of the dead, than we have to expect the rising of 
to-morrow's sun. On what ground do we expect to-morrow's sun 
to rise ? On this : that with invariable uniformity, since the world 
began, it has thus risen. But on what proof do we so confidently 
rely that vv^hat has been in nature will ever be 1 What assurance 
have we that the God of nature will not change the operations of 
some of his laws, or the order of some of those sequences which we 
call cause and effect'? What if we have the assurance that the 
time is coming when they will be changed 1 We have, indeed, 
God's assurance that seed time and harvest, summer and winter, 
shall succeed each other. This appears to be an enactment that 
the cause of nature shall be uniform. But how longt Only until 
Christ comes to judgment. And when will he come 1 That is 
known neither to angels nor to men. The case, then, stands thus. 
Nature's laws will continue in uniform operation until the day of 
judgment, and when that day will be no man knows. The sun, 
then, will certainly rise to-morrow, and on all succeeding days, if 
the day of judgment do not come and turn it into darkness. There 
is an if, then, connected with the continued operations of the pro- 
cesses of nature, on whose continuance men so unhesitatingly rely. 
But when we have the word of our God, there is then no perad- 



28 

vonture. Heaven and eartli may pass away, but God's word can- 
not pass away. The position is sustained, that we have surer 
grounds on which to rest our assurance of the resurrection of the 
dead than we have to expect the rising of to-morrow's sun. We 
will not consent, then, to speak of the resurrection as a mere ab- 
stract conception of the mind. We will not dare to treat it as a 
picture of the imagination. We will speak of its coming with the 
most unhesitating assurance. We have, besides all the ground 
on which men confidently rely for the coming of any event in the 
order of nature, the steadfast word of God — the word which gives 
imiformity to the processes of nature — the word which stands for- 
ever. We would desire, then, on this joyful festival, to speak of 
the resurrection as if we felt beneath our feet the throb of the 
graves with the stirring of the sleepers ; as if on our ear fell the 
sweet songs, and on our eye the pure shining, of the risen righteous; 
as if we saw the descending pomp o-f Christ coming with his angelic 
retinue to judgment ; as if we could hear the blast of that trumpet 
which will reach the ear of every sleeper, though some be impris- 
oned in pyramid, or sepulchred in rock. We can consent to use 
no language, in reference to the resurrection of the dead, less con- 
fident than that of the Apostle when he speaks as " knowing that 
he which raised np the Lord Jesus will raise up us also by Jesus." 
The fact announced in the text that God hath raised up Jesus^ 
we have had occasion, in discoursing upon the creed, so recently 
to prove, that we shall here direct your attention to llie proposi- 
tions involved in the other statements of the apostle. 

I. That God will raise up the faithful and believing by Jesus; 
and, 

II. That he will present those ministers of the word, who have 
been the instruments of the change of sinners from darkness unto 
light, together with those who, by their instrumentality, have beea 
won to God. 

I.. God will raise up the faithful and believing by Jesus. 

L In the scriptures the resurrection of the dead is sometimes at- 
tributed to the Fiithcr, sometimes to the Son, and sometimes to the 
Holy Ghost. In St. John's* Gospel we find this expression;. "As 

• Jjohn 5, 14. 



2!9 

the father raiseth up the (lead and qnickeneth them." In St^ 
Paul's Epistle to the Phillipians* "the Lord Jesus is spoken of as 
raising- our vile bodies. Again, in the Epistle to the Romans,! the 
resurrection of the Savior is attributed to the Holy Spirit. In these 
cases we are not to suppose that any one of the persons of the 
blessed Trinity is spoken of to the exclusion of the others. The 
resurrection is attributed to the power of God- When, therefore, 
the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost is mentioned, as each one is God, 
the resurrection may with propriety be attributed, as in the act of 
creation, to either and to each. 

ii. Nevertheless, it is no doubt true that, in an eminent and pe- 
culiar sense, it is by Jesus that God will raise the dead. He is the 
resurrection and the life. It is by Jesus, coming- in the clouds of 
heaven to judgment, that the dead, hearing the voice of his arch- 
angel, will arise. Jesus Christ, by his mediatorial work in man's 
behalf, purchased the right for man to rise again, after the irrevo- 
cable curse "thou shalt die," so far as his mortal body was con- 
cerned, had been expended upon him. Jesus Christ, by taking- 
man's nature, became the principle of resurrection and the life, by 
which a new law of existence was imposed on human nature; so 
that man became capable of rising renovated from the tomb ; so 
that what sank into the earth in weakness should rise from it in 
power; what mingled in the earth in dishonor, should evolve itself 
again from earth in glory. Finding then, that God hath raised 
up Jesus from the dead, and that in him as the second Adam, 
standing at the head of human nature, not indeed in priority of 
time, but in dignity of character and efficiency of influence, we are 
redeemed from the curse which had been brought upon us by the 
first; w^e may well speak as knowing that he which raised up the Lord 
Jesus will raise up us also by Jesus. And when we know it by a sober 
faith, resting on certainties assured, we find that all difficulties con- 
nected with the doctrine vanish. If it were but a familiar and ex- 
perienced fact, in the present probationary economy, that the bodies 
of the dead rose again, it would, we believe, ]ye far less wonderful 
to our minds than the resurrection marvels by which we are now 
actually surrounded. Why should we think it a thing incredible 
that God should raise the dead, when we daily look upon the mira- 
cles that are connected with the living I Wherein is the mystery 

•3,21. fRom. 8, 11. 



30 

of the resurrection greater than the mystery of birth? What makes 
the fact that a human body, planted in the earth, shall, after an 
allotted period, lift itself, radiant from the dust of death, more won- 
derful than the familiar fact that the unsightly seed, mouldering in 
the earth, rises into forms of grace and beauty, and sends forth 
flowers clothed in loveliness and exhaling fragrance? What is 
spring but a yearly resurrection of nature from the grave of winter? 
With resurrection processes ever thus going on around us; with the 
word of that God which stands forever for an assurance, it is with 
the most absolute and joyful certainty that we speak as " knowing 
that he which raised up Jesus will raise up us by Jesus." 

My brethren this blessed truth, that God will raise us by Jesus, 
causes a radiant resurrection in our hearts — where they have lain 
buried during the season of Lent — of the most animating thoughts, 
and the most joyful anticipations. We call to mind Christ's own 
refulgent resurrection from the dead, and receive his resurrection 
as a pledge of our own rising from the tomb. We take our stand 
by his body which rests in deep slumber, but which rests in hope. 
We see the stern, still, guard before the sealed up sepulchre. We 
feel the oppressive stillness of that momentous night, on which 
hang the proof of the Savior's mission, and, with it, the hope of a 
sinful world. The night wears on; no sound is heard within the 
silent hall of death. Shall the Jew triumph? Shall the sepulchre 
hold him? Must the work of a world's redemption, gloriously be- 
gun, be arrested in its progress and ignominiously defeated? In 
that breathless pause a world accursed waits its doom ; God's truth 
and honor wait their vindication ; heaven's inhabitants wait the 
signal to strike the harp and wave the palm branch. And yet no 
sound is heard within. I seem to see impatient spirit visitants pass 
the guard, and penetrate the rock, and gather with intense and 
tearful anxiety about the pale sleeper, beseeching him to rise. 
Saddened prophecy unfolds her scroll, and supplicates him for 
God's honor, that he would rise. Lost humanity kneels and lifts its 
passionate invocation, that he would rise. Mercy bends over him 
and beseeches him, for the sake of poor lost man, that he would 
rise. And now the hour has come ; he rises from his sleep ; he 
snaps the bonds of death by which it was not possible that he who 
is *'the life" should be holden ; with a countenance like lightning 
the angel descends and rolls away the stouc fiom the door of the 



31 

sepulchre ; the risen Son of God goes forth, conqueror over Satan, 
death, and hell! Prophecy triumphs; ransomed humanity adores; 
rejoicing angels sing. Oh! these are joyful thoughts, which bring 
with them no less joyful anticipations. As God has thus raised 
Jesus, he will also raise us up by Jesus. By the power of his re- 
surrection, given to us through faith in Jesus, we can live in the 
full assurance that Satan shall not overcome us; that death shall 
not hold us ; that hell shall not have us. When wc shall be called 
to descend to the silent sepulchre, the hope, full of immortality, 
which has kept its place within, and sent its angel smile through- 
out our hearts, shall not be startled and frightened away by the 
fiends of fear and doubt which haunt the place of graves. That 
hope shall irradiate the sepulchre and exorcise the fiends. And 
beyond the tomb what scene of glory and of joy await us! Our 
bodies shall rest in hope. They shall rise incorruptible. They shall 
be immortal. They shall be endowed with power to maintain 
ceaseless activity, and to put forth inexhaustible and ever-growing 
energy. They will bloom in immortal youth. They will beam with 
the radiance which invested the Savior upon Mount Tabor ; and 
when the nuptials of the glorified body and the purified soul shall 
be celebrated in the presence of the assembled universe, the spirit 
shall take up its eternal residence in its fit and resplendent temple. 
Then the heart will glow with love which knows no decay and no 
reaction. Then the mind will learn truth, never after to be dis- 
carded as error. Then all the faculties shall find full and satisfying 
exercise and enio3'^ment. Oh ! how different is this prospect 
which lies before those whom God will raise with Christ, as his own 
ransomed ones, from that which stretches, vague, and dark, and 
peopled with unknown terrors, before the eye of the hopeless un- 
believer who has no faith in the resurrection of the dead ! The very 
point which, to the disciple of the Savior, is the commencement of 
the fruition of his hope and the termination of his fear, is to the 
unbeliever the end of his hope and tlic beginning of his despair. 
At the grave and gate of death, where, for the unbelieving children 
of the world, gloom, and doubt, and darkness gather, and present 
all onward visions, for the happy children of the resurrection, faith, 
and hope, and joy, concentre in tlieir brightness, and radiate their 
beauty out upon the measureless tracks of an eternity of bliss ! 
That God will raise us up ; that he will raise us by the Jesus whom 



32 

we have loved, and worshipped, and served here on earth ; that it 
shall be in a body changed from vilcness into the likeness of liis 
own glorious body. In these truths is found that which makes this 
a day for gratulation and for joy. Our Easter carol connects our 
resurrection with that of our ascended Jesus. " Christ is risen from 
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For as in 
Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 

II. But at this time the heart of him who addresses you — needing 
some such blessed truth to support it in this parting hour — turns to 
the remaining assurance involved in the words of the Apostle^ that 
God will present those ministers of his word who have been the in- 
struments of the change of sinners from darkness unto light, to- 
gether with those who, by their instrumentality, have been won to 
God. 

i. There can be no doubt that, in the resurrection, they who have 
known and loved each other here on earth, shall recognise and love 
each other, if they die in Christ, in their higher and better state of 
existence. It has been remarked, that even departed spirits in their 
intermediate state are plainly exhibited in the Gospel as known to 
each other. Our Savior informs us that many shall come from the 
east and the west, and the north and the south, and shall sit down 
with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 
To the complete fulfilment of the intention of this promise, it ap- 
pears necessary that the persons here spoken of should know these 
Patriarchs- Lazarus, Abraham, and the rich man, are all exhibited 
in the parable as known to each other. Moses and Elias, though 
the one was a disembodied spirit, were known to the disciples in 
the moment of transfiguration. From these fiicts it is reasonably 
inferred that we shall know each other in the future world, and 
that the bodies in which we rise will retain their identity.* 

ii. In addition to these well-founded and conclusive observations, 
in proof of this delightful truth, there are other obvious considera- 
tions which give it clear confirmation. If those who have known 
each other here on earth shall not again recognise each otlier in 
the resurrection, then will they be in a less perfect state of know- 
ledge than that in which they now are found. But the future state 
is described as one of greatly increased and exalted knowledge. If 

* Dvvight's Theology. 



33 

they are not known to each other, we see not where is the secret 
of comfort in the exhortation of the Apostle under the loss of de- 
parted friends — and the words were surely meant for comfort — ■ 
*' Sorrow not brethren for those who are asleep, even as others who 
have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so those that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him." Here 
they are not to sorrow, because sleeping in Jesus, God will again 
bring them with him. The point on which the comfort is suspended, 
is the fact that they will be brought with Jesus — a ground of com- 
fort which involves of necessity the recognition of those thus brought 
by Jesus, by those who are bidden not to sorrow without hope. If 
separated friends, who die accepted of God, are not to know each 
other, we can discern no propriety or force in the language of be- 
reaved David over his lost little one : " While the child was yet 
alive T fasted and wept, for I said who can tell whether God may 
be gracious to me that the cliild may live. But now that he is dead, 
wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again ? I shall go 
to him, but he shall not return to me." It surely was not the 
thought of going to the grave, and there mingling his insensate 
dust with that of his departed child, which so cheered the heart of 
the bereaved father. No ; it was the thought of so going to him, as 
again to fold him in his arms and again to press him to his bosom. 

iii. But there is a portion of this subject to which my mind, im- 
patient, hastens, that it may suggest comfort for a heart disturbed. 
There are several passages which seem distinctly to intimate that 
the tie between the minister of the cross and those who, through 
his instrumentality, have been called to a knowledge of the truth, 
shall not be broken by death, or by any event which effects their 
earthly separation. We have intimations, not dark or doubtful, 
that there shall be a peculiarl)"- holy and intimate relationship be- 
tween the risen and ransomed heralds of salvation, and the risen 
and ransomed who are his crown and his rejoicing. It is very com- 
forting to find that one of the stiongest and holiest of connexions 
formed on earth shall not only continue unbroken, but shall be 
bound by new and holier bonds in heaven. The pastor who has 
not labored in vain for souls, but through the blessing of God on 
his ministrations has been the means of turning many to righteous- 
ness, shall, as he rises from the tomb, not go unattended into the 
midst of the angelic company. Hf^ shall go surrounded by a retinue 
5 



34 

more glorious than ever illustrated a hero's triumph or swelled a 
monarch's pomp. The Apostle in the text distinctly assures us 
that God, who raised up the Lord Jesus, should raise him up by 
Jesus, and present him with his Corinthian converts. That was the 
ground of his great consolation. And with this happy anticipation 
precisely agree his words to the Thessalonians: "'Seeing it is a 
righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that 
trouble you; and to you Avho are troubled rest with us, when the 
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." 
Rest.with us. As St. Paul regards his presentation with his apos- 
tles as the ground of his comfort, so would he have them regard 
th^ir rest with him as the ground of their comfort. And again, 
how does his pastor heart give to itself such expression, as the 
heart of every pastor responds to, in these affectionate words to the 
Corinthians: " We write none other words unto you than what ye 
read and acknowledge even to the end ; as also ye have acknow- 
ledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also arc 
ours in the day of the Lord Jesus." In the day of Christ, i. e. the 
judgment day, the apostle would be conscious of the salvation of 
those who were then indeed not only to be recognised, but to be 
the cause of his rejoicing. And again, thus he speaks to the Thes- 
salonians : " For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are 
not ye even in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. 
For ye arc our glory and our joy." And again, to the Colossians 
his language is even less equivocal. Speaking of Christ he says: 
*'Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man 
in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ 
Jesus." My brethren, these are precious declarations to a pastor's 
heart, saddened by the thought of separation from those he loves, 
and to those who feel that they owe to him the knowledge of the 
truth as it is in Jesus. They unequivocally announce that the joy, 
and glory, and crown of the minister of Jesus, are those whom he 
has been the means of leading into the way of life, and that he 
shall present them perfect in Christ Jesus. Taken in connexion 
with the text, these passages bring before our minds scenes of sur- 
passing interest and of elevating comfort. They describe a grand 
and august presentation, such as was never enacted in the court of 
kings. It shows us God presenting the honored minister of his 
word to the celestial company, surrounded by the radiant troop 



35 

whom his ministrations won for Jesus; his heart and their hearts 
swelling with rapturous gi-atitndc, and bidding them to welcome 
heaven's new inhabitants to "the innumerable company of angels," 
" to the general assembly and church of the first born," and "to the 
spirits of just men made perfect." And when God has thus pre- 
sented them together to the society of the blest, that happy min- 
ister of the cross, with more than parental pride and fondness for 
the spiritual children whom God hath given him, is seen present- 
ing them to their future brethren as perfect in Christ Jesus. Oh! 
the joy, the honor, the glory, of being a minister of Jesus, if so be 
that one be made instrumental in turning some to righteousness! 
Then shall heaven's harps ring, and heaven's voices rise loud and 
high to the praises of redeeming love! 

My christian brethren, so manifestly does it seem to us to be re- 
vealed, and to be in itself probable and necessary, that this con- 
nexion of a ransomed spirit with the human instrument by which 
it is accomplished will be continued in heaven, that even if the 
evidence of the recognition of other fiiends were to be abandoned 
as insufficient, which it need not be, we should still hold on to the 
clear and blessed announcements of God's word, that the tie be- 
tween the minister of Jesns and his converts is a tie for eternity. 
The soul must know itself to have been ransomed from the curse 
of sin by the cross, and from the power of sin by the resurrection 
of the Savior. It could not maintain its proper position, or exercise 
its proper duties, if it were not distinctly conscious that it was a 
soul redeemed from death and sin. That it retains such a recollec- 
tion is manifest from the fact, that the new song in heaven is ad- 
dressed to the Lamb that hath washed us in his blood. If, then, 
all the memories of its earthly relationship shall be effaced, and all 
its feelings of earthly affection dead, yet its spiritual history would 
remain in remembrance, and the spiritual relationships which pow- 
erfully affected that condition be stamped indelibly upon the mind 
and heart. We would desire, then, on this occasion, to see the re- 
lation of the minister of Christ to those among whom he ministers, 
in its true elevation and importance. We would see it as it rises 
in dignity and importance above all human ties of blood and kindred. 
We would trace it as it exists after death, in the region where the 
souls of the righteous rest in felicity; as it continues at the resur- 
rection; as it is sustained at the judgment; as it is prolonged 



36 

throughout eternity. Oh! how it adds to the joy of this Easter 
festival, which assures us that God who raised up the Lord Jesus 
shall raise his ministers by Jesus, to be assured also that he will 
present them to the glad assembly of the blest, together with the 
people whose souls he has won for heaven ! 

My christian brethren, since in the providence, and as I solemnly 
believe at the call of God, I am this day for the last time to address 
you as your pastor, it seems to me that I can leave yon with a 
heart less bowed down by sorrow at the thought of separation from 
those I love so well, than it would otherwise be, if I place before 
my mind and yours this cheering and animating truth, that God 
will present together his minister and those who through him have 
been won for Christ. Being unwilling to darken for you the joy of 
this festival by the obtrusion of my own feelings, in view of sepa- 
ration from you ; and, in truth, being afraid to trust myself with 
their expression; desirous also of presenting to your minds the most 
cheerful view of the severance which is now to take place, I have 
occupied some of the services of the Lent season, with which they 
better harmonize, in giving expression to the more solemn reflec- 
tions, warnings, and admonitions which the event properly suggests. 
For these reasons, I feel that we may properly appropriate all the 
comfort which this day, and this day's truth can furnish; a com- 
fort, brethren, which be assured I greatly need. I see before me 
many, together with whom I hope to be presented by Jesus. God, 
as is his wont, magnifying the greatness of his mercy and his power 
by the feebleness of ihe instrument ilirough whose presentation of 
the saving truth souls are to be awakened, has been pleased to con- 
nect the conversion of some here with my feeble ministrations. 
There are before me those — how inexpressibly dear to the pastor's 
heart such a time as this teaches him to feci, but admonishes him 
not to venture to express — there are those here, in connexion with 
whom busy memory calls up scenes and associations of the tender- 
est and dearest, as they will prove to be of eternal interest. I have 
stood by the sick bed of some, and heard their penitent confes- 
sions of past neglect of God ; I have sat down with others in the 
home of bereavement; and, Aveeping with those that wept, I have 
pointed out the angel Mercy, coming with her balm to heal the 
wound inflicted by the augcl Judgment; and they have seen her, 
and turned themselves to the Lord. Others! I have seen, raised and 



37 

melted under the word of truth, coming to inquire how they might 
be saved, with the tear of penitence streaming from their eyes, and 
the prayer for mercy trembling on their lips. I have seen the old 
man in his waning strength, the strong man in his meridian vigor, 
the maiden in her loveliness, and the boy with ihe dew of life's 
morning on his locks, bow together in happy allegiance to the 
crucified. I have seen the hearts of the parents turned to the chil- 
dren, and the children to their parents, and all together turned to 
the Lord Jesus, and bound to him in an everlasting covenant. 
These are ties which never can be destroyed. These are inde- 
structible bonds which are beyond the reach of all mutation. Time 
cannot corrode them; distance cannot loose them; death cannot 
sever them; hell cannot break them. And, brethren beloved, by 
those sacred ties; by the delightful fact that God will present us 
with you, we beseech you to continue steadfast in faith, abounding 
in love, and devoted in obedience. To each of you I would leave 
the parting word by which each may be reminded of duty, and 
quickened in obedience. To the vestry of the church I would say, 
continue to labor untiringly and assiduously for the church, chielly 
intent on accomplishing, through its temporal, its spiritual welfare; 
and God will "never leave nor forsake you." To christian parents 
I would say, "Bring up your children in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord, and in due season, if ye faint not, they will be 
prepared to be presented with you at the resurrection." To the 
Sunday school teachers I would say, "Patiently sow the seed, and 
with all perseverance continue instant in prayer for the young im- 
mortals of your charge, and in due time ye shall reap if ye faint 
not." To the members of the Bible class — ah, here the heart would 
linger over these young disciples who have been so faithful to the 
duties^connected with the class, and growing so in the knowledge, 
and, as I believe, correspondently in the grace of God; to them I 
would say, "Go on in the study of the love of heaven, and the 
spirit and temper and heart of heaven shall be yours." To the 
congregation at large I would say — continue as, with great gratitude 
I say it, you have been in a good degree ; continue zealous and de- 
voted; uphold your pastor's heart and hands by faithful and punc- 
tual attendance upon his ministrations, and by heartily joining in 
his plans for the welfare of the congregation, and of others. Let 
no good work be wanting; let no good enterprise fail among you. 



38 

I pray you eRpecially not to allow tlie schools which are connected 
with the parish to die — not to allow them to languish, as, through 
too little interest in them on your part, they have hitherto done. 
Let the cause of Messiah, and of the Bible and Tract distribution — 
the cause of colonization — of benevolent effort for the relief of the 
poor in your own town — let them all have a place in your affec- 
tions, and experience the benefit of your liberality and your prayers. 
In a word, let all continue in every good word and work, and soon 
our great and glorious presentation together, to the company of the 
blest, shall take place. Oh! it seems to me that it will be among 
the highest joys of heaven — that which will be granted to the min- 
ister of Jesus and his spiritual children — to sit down together in the 
green pastures by the still waters of the better land, together to 
wander over the scenery of heaven, in converse upon the events of 
their earthly pilgrimage; together to trace how wonderfully God's 
purposes of mercy to their souls have been accomplished, and 
clearly to perceive, what we can but imperfectly discern at present, 
how the heart was gradually prepared for the truih, and how, when 
the heart was prepared for it, the truth was sent; how the very 
thought which the soul of the sinner needed was given to the 
preacher's mind, and uttered with unusual emphasis by the preach- 
er's voice, and how it caught hold of, and became entangled in, 
and refused to be torn out of, the hearer's heart. And oh, as the 
wonders of God's merciful dealings with our souls are evolved, how, 
inethinks, shall we interrupt the happy survey of the past, with 
exclamations of wonder and delight, and with the spontaneous lift- 
ing up of songs of thanksgiving for redeeming love! Sure at 
least, I am that to the pastor's heart, filled with love for the people 
of his charge, and with sorrow at the thought of separation from 
them, it is the most soothing thought connected with the resurrec- 
tion of the dead, that he will be presented, together with those who 
through his instrumentality have been won to Christ, and that he 
will be permitted to recognise all the children of God by faith in 
Christ Jesus, to whom he has ministered on earth, and all others 
whom he loves, and share with them the unending felicities of 
heaven. It is this consideration which gives him heart to say — 
till then — only till then — farewell! 

And here I willingly would close and say no more. But there 
are here many dear friends, for faithfulness to whose souls I must 



39 

hereafter give an account to God, to whom I feel bound to add a 
word of parting- admonition. Knowing-, with a certainty as assured 
as that they must die, that they must rise again ; knowing that if 
they do not die in the Lord, they must rise to shame and everlast- 
ing contempt; remembering that now, in all human probability, I 
preach to many of them for the last time, Jesus and the Resurrec- 
tion, and feeling, therefore, as if I were now about to go- and give 
in to God an account of my ministry among them, how can I, in 
fidelity and love, do otherwise than leave with them a last fervent 
exhortation to place themselves under the power of Christ's resur- 
rection. And oh, when I remember that the distinct decision to serve 
God has, not unfrequently, been made in this sanctuary at particular 
services ; that here the prayer of faith and the vow of consecration 
have arisen which bound the soul to Jesus, and made him who 
breathed it a partaker of his resurrection, I cannot but entertain the 
hope, that even at this, the last hour of my ministry among them, 
some for whom I have prayed and labored, yet, alas, with but little 
fervency and faithfulness, may yet be my rejoicing in the day of 
Christ — that Jesus may present me with them to the society of the 
blessed. Oh, brethren let the decision for God now be made, that I 
may meet you on the morning of the resurrection, clad in the bright 
garments of a holy immortalit)'-, and that ye may be my glory and 
my crown. If ever a word for Christ has fallen from my lips which 
convinced, or convicted, or aroused, let it now work its appropriate 
effect in making you yield to the claims of Jesus. If you will not 
submit yourselves to the grace of Christ, you will bow and be blasted 
under the coming of his wrath. If you will not submit, then I see, 
in that scene which has so many thoughts for holy comfort, when 
contemplated in connexion with the faithful and obedient, only an 
occasion for thoughts of horror and of anguish, when viewed in 
connexion with you and your destiny. You too will rise. Your 
bodies will be immortal and undying, only that they may endure 
the burning of immortal fires, and the gnawing of undjnng worms. 
On that day you too may perhaps recognise and be recognised by 
your friends who died in Jesus. At least on that day you will know, 
(bat among the radiant ranks of the risen righteous, the light of 
whose lovely and lustrous presence will but bring out into more dis« 
tinct hideousness the deformity of the children of hell — you will 
know that among the shining company that line the sky with lighty 



4U 

and circle the cloud throne of the King-, are your relatives and 
friends — a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a husband or a wife 
• — and that you are about to be separated to the pollution and re- 
morse of your own God-deserted spirit, and to the accursed com- 
panionship of fiends in the blackness of darkness, amid the weep- 
ing and wailing and gnashing of teeth, forever and ever ! Brethren 
it need not be. It ought not to be. If it shall be, it will be because 
of folly without a parallel, of wilful depravity without palliation. 
With the sound of redeeming love falling on your ear — with the 
power of a risen Savior manifested in the midst of you — with the 
persuasive influence of the converting spirit waiting at your heart's 
door, it must not, must not be ! As the last word of my ministry 
among you, I solemuly warn every impenitent individual in this 
congregation, that on whatever plea he is deferring repentance, he 
is now in a state of actual condemnation, and of prospective, and 
not distant, eternal damnation ! I protest, in the name of his im- 
mortal soul — in the name of God, his creator — of Jesus, his redeem- 
er — of the Spirit, his sanctifier — I protest against his self-wrought 
ruin ! I invoke you, in the name of the triune God — in the Church 
where his spirit waits the issue — in the presence of the cloud of 
witnesses, who, invisible to us, wait with intense interest the decis- 
ion of the soul for Jesus, as at the portal of the grave — in view of 
the resurrection you must share, and the judgment bar before which 
you must stand — I invoke you to give your soul to the God who 
made it, through the Savior who redeemed it. And this warning 
is my parting word with you. It is not the less afleclionate, because 
it is admonitory and earnest. If, indeed, it were harrowing and 
startling as a glimpse of hell, it would be the more full of love for 
your poor cheated, ruined souls. God in his mercy grant, that when 
the separated ranks of the justified and condemned shall prepare, 
under the sentences of tlie judge, to depart, the one to their home 
of everlasting blessedness, and the other to the prison-house of 
everlasting wo — God grant that over the inexorable space that sep- 
arates the righteous and the wicked, I shall not be compelled to 
send to you, nor hear coming from you, in the wild and piercing 
accents of despair, the word, which I now breathe with the feivent 
prayer that it may not be for oiermty— farewell, farewell! 



A SERMON 



GIVING 

A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 

OF 

ST. mn CHURtH, GEORGETOWN, D. C, 

DELIVERED OCTOBER 17, 1843; 
AND 

AN ADDRESS 

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 

FUNERAL OF ABEL P. UPSHUR & OTHERS, 

WHO LOST THEIR LIVES BY THE CALAMITY ON BOARD THE PRINCETON, FEB. 26, 1844, 

AND ALSO A 

FAREWELL SERMON 

DELIVERED APRIL 7, 1844, 
OS 

HIS RESIGNATION OF THE RECTORSHIP OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. 



BY REV. C. M. BUTLER, 

LATE RECTOR, NOW OF GRACE CHURCH, BOSTO.V. 



Proceeds to be approprhited to the support of the Parish Schools connected with the Church. ^ 



W6 



'^ WASHINGTON: 

J. AND G. S. GIDE0I7, I'UINTEKS 

1844. 



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